21.5.11

Almost Ready

Emily, Amelia, and I are just about packed up for our first family trip! We are flying to San Francisco (or as I say Sansenfrisco) tomorrow afternoon and will be gone for seven days as we bask in each others' company and take in the sights of beautiful California. It will be both Amelia's and my first trip to the west coast and we are both very excited.

Emily has really been the driving force behind getting us ready for the trip. Sometimes I think we are so similar, and other times (like now) I realize we can be very different. Emily is very organized and I, well, am not. If it wasn't for her meticulous pack-plan and determination to get our house in order before our trip, we'd be a mess...I'd be a mess. Sometimes we butt heads because our different personalities, but after the initial rough spot, we come out stronger, closer, and happier. I've heard it said that people can't change, and to some extent I agree. However, I have come to find that in a marriage, people can and do change - for the better.

Before meeting, dating, and subsequently marrying Emily, I've was a completely unorganized right-brainer who procrastinated and didn't take much seriously. I'm not much different now, but I am a little, and that little bit is very important. She makes me a better person, husband, and father. She is amazing and I'm grateful for her love and patience.

So, if you haven't been keeping up with us on the Facebook, we've been super busy since my redeployment. From working on our house, to spending quality time together, to getting to know our neighbors, we've been all over. Emily and I were talking about it last night. It's so weird for me to be home and leading a normal life. Up until this point, we would try to cram 5 yrs of life into 3 months before I had to leave again - be it school, training, or deployment. Now I'm here at home and quite a few of my friends are deploying and it's an odd feeling, being on this side of leaving. I dropped my friend Phil off at his assembly area last night for his Afghanistan deployment and I just got really sad. I wasn't expecting it because I have always been the one leaving, trying to focus on the task at hand. I got just a tiny morsel of what Emily has had to endure these past 5 years and I'll tell you: I do not like it AT ALL.

Well, it's' about time for my ladies to wake up, so I'll close with some photos and a new mix. I hope you enjoy it all - I sure do.